Norway PM appoints new oil minister in cabinet reshuffle

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OSLO, Aug 31 (Reuters) - Norway’s Conservative Prime Minister Erna Solberg replaced her ministers for oil and transportation in a cabinet reshuffle on Friday, her office said in a statement.

Oil Minister Terje Soeviknes of the rightwing Progress Party was replaced by fellow party member Kjell-Boerge Freiberg, a former mayor of a town in the Arctic Lofoten archipelago, in which the oil industry has long sought permission to explore.

Agriculture Minister Jon Georg Dale will meanwhile move to the ministry for transport and communications, replacing Ketil Solvik-Olsen, while parliamentarian Baard Hoksrud will take on Dale’s old portfolio.

August opinion polls showed the centre-left opposition taking a narrow lead over the government for the first time in more than a year, a compilation by Norway’s poll of polls website showed. (Reporting by Terje Solsvik, editing by Ole Petter Skonnord)